The present invention relates to electronic connectors for coupling first and second printed circuit boards together. More particularly, the present invention relates to a board to board interconnect which reduces the required stack height between two adjacent printed circuit boards which are coupled together and which reduces the amount of board space used by the interconnect.
Typical board to board interconnects have both male and female connector portions which mate together to form an electrical connection between the two circuit boards. Male connector pins are coupled to a first circuit board. The male connector pins mate with female connectors coupled to a second circuit board. This type of board to board interconnect requires that two types of connectors be inventoried in order to couple two printed circuit boards together.
The present invention is a hermaphroditic connector design. In other words, the connector made according to the present invention can be mated to another connector having an identical shape in only a single orientation to ensure proper electrical connection between two adjacent printed circuit boards. Therefore, only one type of connector needs to be inventoried.
Conventional hermaphroditic connectors use two movable spring contacts to provide an electrical connection between adjacent printed circuit boards (PCBs). When two of these conventional connectors are mated, the spring forces on the movable spring contacts are dependent on the PCB to PCB stack height and tolerance. As the distance between the two connectors decreases, the contact normal force or spring force against the mating contacts increases. Therefore, by having two moving spring contacts, the PCB to PCB stack height tolerance range must be decreased for conventional connectors to adequately control the range of normal force.
According to the present invention, an electrical connector includes a body having first and second portions. The connector includes a plurality of first contacts situated in the first portion of the body. Each of said first contacts includes a first end portion configured to be coupled to a conductive member on a first printed circuit board and a second free end portion situated within the first portion of the body to define a movable spring contact surface section. The connector further includes a plurality of second contacts situated in the second portion of the body. Each of said second contacts includes a first end portion configured to be coupled to a conductive member on the first printed circuit board and a second end portion coupled to the second portion of the body to define a fixed contact surface section. The connector is configured to mate with an identically shaped second connector coupled to a second printed circuit board so that the plurality of movable spring contact surface sections of the first connector engage a plurality of fixed contact surface sections of the second connector and the plurality of fixed contact surface sections of the first connector engage a plurality of movable spring contact surface sections of the second connector to couple the first printed circuit board to the second printed circuit board.
One feature of the present invention is the provision of a series of fixed contacts and a series of spring contacts in each connector. In use, a first connector is coupled to a first PCB and a second connector is coupled to a second PCB. When the two connectors are mated, the spring contacts of the first connector mate with the fixed contacts of the second connector and the spring contacts of the second connector mate with the fixed contacts with the first connector. This reduces the required overall PCB to PCB stack height (distance between two coupled circuit boards) because only one spring height is required. Because the present invention uses both spring contacts and fixed contacts, the spring force on the movable contacts is the same from its initial mate height until the final mate height. This permits a wide tolerance range for the PCB to PCB stack height. The movable spring contacts are deflected by the same predetermined amount regardless of the PCB to PCB stack height. This advantageously reduces the likelihood of damaging the movable spring contacts.
Additional objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.